Thompsonville 7th Day Adventist Church 3577 Angel Lane * P.O. Box 23 Thompsonville, Illinois 62890 618-627-2999
October 27, 2005
Linda Shelton -- private address removed--
Dear Linda,
We hope that this letter finds you in the best of health. Since you left Thompsonville you have been on our hearts and in our prayers. It is in a spirit of deep spiritual concern that we pray that you will understand that this letter was written with eternal interest at heart. This letter is to inform you of the decision made by the Church Board of the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church with reference to your membership.
We received your membership request for transfer to the Springfield Seventh-day Adventist Church. After much discussion, prayer, and consideration, at the church board level, we have voted to call a church business session to recommend to the church that you be placed under censure.
The meeting is scheduled to be held on Saturday evening, November 19th following sunset.
It is your right to appear in person to represent yourself or to write a letter to the church to address the recommendation that the Church Board will make to the church in business session.You can also request that some time be given for you to respond before the matter is taken to church business session.
Because of the nature of the decision made we will await your response before November 17,2005. After that time if we have not heard from you by letter we will take the matter to business session, You ****** can send any correspondences to the address above. If you have any immediate concerns you can call pastor John Lomacang at .*****...
Yours In Christ
Pastor John Lomacang
Dear Pastor Lomacang and Thompsonville SDA Church Board Members,
I received your letter dated October 27, 2005. My participation in the SDA Church means very much to me, thus I take very seriously the message of your letter. Yet I strongly feel, John, that you are compromised because of your close association with Danny Shelton and your employment with 3 ABN and the “3 ABN Church.” (Also your dream. of many years to be on TV.) Additionally I feel that you, as the Church Board, are compromised since most of you work at 3AB1. Also, I feel the church members are compromised, to the matter at hand, because of the propaganda in which they have been saturated. I have yet to he approached by any of you for ministry purposes or to inquire about “my side of the story.’ Quite frankly I do not feel I would receive a fair hearing in this church. I protest the fact that you claim to go by the church manual in regards to censure, but you ignore the church manual when it comes to reaching out to the hurting one. Thus, I am formally requesting that as of today my membership be dropped from the church.
Let it be known that I am innocent of the rumors and allegations made against me. Let it be known that the separation from my husband and 3ABN was against my will. And let it be known. that I love my Church and the people in it enough to not publically broadcast in detail the wrongs that have been done to me. These facts would only hurt, not help.
In spite of the neglect of Christians during my dark days, God has been very good to me. I am blessed to have emerged with my sanity still intact and I have a brand new perspective; a perspective which has clearly revealed to me that many professed Christians have not yet found a genuine heart-felt relationship with Christ, For this, the heart of Jesus bleeds. Although man can remove job titles, etc, etc,, no man can take away my calling which I will continue to pursue. I still welcome your greetings and comments, thus I am including my email address. May God’s richest blessings be yours, and may God bless the Thompsonville SDA Church!
With warmest regards,
Linda Shelton,
Linda@ Lindashelton. org
77 Angel Lane P.O. Box 23 ‘Thompsonville, Illinois 62890
January 14, 2006
Linda Shelton -private address removed-
Dear Linda,
Thank you for your speedy response to the letter the Church Board sent to you. I, was also pleased to speak to you when you called me Sabbath afternoon. I thought that our conversation went well and I listened to your observations hoping that we would be able to help you. I was somewhat surprised how soon you had Derrell Mundall hand deliver your reply letter to me at my office.
As I read it I was a bit disappointed to see that you expressed so little confidence in the church board, the church members, and in me. To incessantly suggest that the church is made of “compromised” members is quite short-sighted on your part. This board is not made of people bought by Danny Shelton. It is comprised of God-fearing Christians that understand all too well the great responsibility of making well informed decisions.
It is enlightening to see how you unceasingly, and relentlessly, attempted to dismiss your poor decision making by maligning others.
It was also quite manipulative on your part to imply that my “dreams of many years to be on TV” disqualified me as an objective pastor. Linda you may remember, it was at your urging that Danny called me to join the 3ABN family. At no time did I even call or suggest that I was interested in being on TV. Years before I even knew of 3ABN, Doug Batchelor and I were already on television; not to mention countless other times without Doug. It was on the heels of Net ‘99 in New York that I was invited to sing at 3ABN; prior to that I had not heard of 3ABN. The doors that opened at 3ABN were not opened by any dream on my part, of which there was none concerning 3ABN but by the hand of the Lord.As a matter of record you probably remember well when you said to me,”John, God brought you to St. Louis so that we could bring you the rest of the way.” To suggest that you will be not be able to receive fairness and impartiality is ludicrous.
Linda, as we look at the time-line of events you were the first one to call me and ask for counsel about your friendship with the doctor. It was after I arrived at your home that I heard the other side of the story. It was hearing both sides that led me to give you counsel to sever the relationship with the doctor from Norway. I made that decision as your pastor and as a marriage counselor with 16 years experience, not as a “back-pocket” servant of Danny Shelton.
It has been nearly two years since this escapade started and you will recall that from the very outset, that Tuesday night in your living room, when you made the decision not to sever your relationship with the doctor, you set the course that led you to where you are today. Linda, the decision to hold on to someone other than your husband in spite of the months of counseling, was a critical decision in furthering your downfall. To further compound the matter, you still held firmly to your course after the relentless pleading from your friends, confidants, pastors, 3ABN board members, and non-Adventist counselors to sever the relationship. One has to be quite short-sighted and uninformed to come to the conclusion that all of those people were ”compromised.”
You also mentioned that no one made an attempt to visit you and minister to you. Speaking for Angie and I, you may remember that when you made the decision to move to out of your home and go to Marion for ”more privacy,” we called you and asked if we could come and visit with you. You refused by saying that you were not ready and that you would let us know when you were ready for our visits. You never contacted us so we can only assume that you did not want a visit from us. Even when we saw you in the mall with Danny, we asked again about visiting and you said "I will tell you when.”
Many of the people that are still supporting your cause were not at ground zero. You continue to suggest that it was the subsequent decisions that other people made, rather than the initial one that you made that landed you where you are. One of the greatest evidences of hazardous decision-making on your part is the fact that you and the doctor are still in a relationship.
There was never a conspiracy to get rid of you and to refuse you a fair hearing. You were, and are greatly loved by many of the people at 3ABN and Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church. However, love for someone and loyalty to them are not always the same. While we love you, we must be loyal to the truth and to the Lord. That is where we must be accountable.
God placed within your hands the responsibility of carrying a message to the world. It is unfortunate that you came to the place where your desires became more important than the responsibility placed on you through the message. Linda, God called you and the Bible says in Romans 11:29 ”For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” God called King Saul and God called David; both of these followers of God sinned. The difference between a ”king” and a ”shepherd boy” was clearly seen. Saul was too great to repent and turn to God and the record is clear concerning his fate. David, although his fall was great, turned to God with the heart of a repentant servant. For our admonition David’s prayer of repentance was preserved in Psalm 139:23,24 (KJV),”Search me, 0 God, and know my heart; Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
I read your recent response letter to the church board dated October 31,2005, and I hope that the declaration that you made, ”Let it be known that I am innocent of the rumors and allegations made against me, ”is not written in stone. Linda, on this note you were correct, ”Man can remove job titles.” However let me caution you about the rest of your declaration, ”No man can take away my calling which I will continue to pursue.” Saul pursued a course that dishonored God and God removed him. On the other hand David repented and pursued a course that opened the way for God to restore him. The eternal question is one to deeply and prayerfully ponder. Which course will you pursue? David humbled himself under the Almighty Hand of God and was restored. In spite of the dark stain of David’s past the apostle Paul preached a message that recalls the fate of these two great men. He writes in Acts 13:21-22 (NKJV),”And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. (22) “And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ’l have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.”
Linda, from the first night that I sat before you in your living room I made a statement that has so far proven to be true. I said to you, ”Satan wants to destroy you, your ministry, your career, and your marriage. ”The results are evidence that to this day Satan has prevailed. I am hoping that he will not prevail in robbing you of your salvation. Just recently I read the chapter ”Why Was Sin and Suffering Permitted,” from the book, ”Patriarchs & Prophets.” I was deeply impressed again by what I read to further warn you that you are still on enchanted grounds and that the enemy is not done. Here are a few of the quotes that opened my eyes:
“The angels whom he could not bring fully to his side, he accused of indifference to the interests of heavenly beings. The very work which he himself was doing, he charged upon the loyal angels. It was his policy to perplex with subtle arguments concerning the purposes of God. Everything that was simple he shrouded in mystery, and by artful perversion cast doubt upon the plainest statements of Jehovah. And his high position, so closely connected with the divine government, gave greater force to his representation.
“He had artfully presented his side of the question, employing sophistry and fraud to secure his objects. His power to deceive was very great. By disguising himself in a cloak of falsehood, he had gained an advantage. All his acts were so clothed with mystery that it was difficult to disclose to the angels the true nature of his work. Until fully developed, it could not be made to appear the evil thing it was; his disaffection would not be seen to be rebellion. Even the loyal angels could not fully discern his character or see to what his work was leading.”
“Rejecting with disdain the arguments and entreaties of the loyal angels, he denounced them as deluded slaves. The preference shown to Christ he declared an act of injustice both to himself and to all the heavenly host, and announced that he would no longer submit to this invasion of his rights and theirs.”
Linda, I saw that because of your great influence Satan would come at you with great intensity. If you persist in holding to the self-deceiving position that you have done nothing wrong, you are preparing yourself for the completion of Satan’s plan, complete destruction. As long as you play the role of total innocence, you are a gullible prey..
That is why we prayed for you when you were in your post at 3ABN and we will still pray for you. Our deepest prayer is that you discover that greatness comes not from being served but serving. We pray for your supporters because they only know the side that you presented. Our prayer is that the Lord will bring softness to your heart to make you a servant. At the end of the day it must be seen that it is “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts. ”Zechariah 4:6 (NKJV).
Linda, God has not called us to be famous but to be faithful. I pray that you will respond to the Holy Spirit’s call to faithfulness.
We deeply regret that you have made the final decision to have your membership dropped from the church, but we do not have the right to refuse your written “formal request.”
The church chose censure rather than removal of membership because it was our desire to connect you with a Seventh-day Adventist church where you could find spiritual healing and recovery, not to cause you any further hardship. It is not our prayer that you pursue your calling; it is our prayer that you pursue the heart of God.
Your greatest blessing will come when you are restored to wholeness in the sight of God. God will richly bless you, not on account of whom you are, but on account of whom He is. Seek His kingdom and His righteousness and all that He has for you will be added.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor John Lomacang
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